Venezuela's Opposition Swears in "Supreme Court in Exile" from Washington

14 Octubre 2017

Both men fled to the US after being sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in August for their failure to reign in violent anti-government protests in their municipalities.

Maduro has threatened the magistrates elected by the National Assembly with jail time, prompting Colombia, Chile, Mexico and the U.S.to offer political asylum to the magistrates. "The people of Venezuela will respond with dignity and firmness to the imperialist attacks, to guarantee the economic sovereignty of the country", Mr. Maduro tweeted in response to the latest round of US sanctions.But with so much of Venezuela's main export servicing the government's debt rather than its people, it is difficult to see what sovereignty he might have been referring to.A proud nation is now indentured. "He was the President of the Institute of Venezuelan Rural Development (INDER)".

Venezuela's ousted chief prosecutor leaked a video Thursday purporting to show an Odebrecht executive saying he agreed to pay $35 million toward President Nicolas Maduro's campaign in exchange for prioritizing the Brazilian construction giant's projects.

"The installation of this TSJ opens the way to recover democracy in Venezuela", he said.

Borges's trip seeks to shore up international support for congress, which Maduro has tried to supersede entirely by installing the legislative super body, according to Elsa Cardozo, professor of international relations at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas.

Even if he does manage to cobble together a solution, it will likely be a temporary one at best. It is little wonder that financial markets put Venezuela's risk of defaulting in the next five years at 98%, according to Bloomberg.A default might not necessarily unseat Mr. Maduro.

National Assembly President Julio Borges plans to leave Venezuela over the weekend to attend an international parliamentary forum in St. Petersburg and meet with Russian lawmakers.

Talks began in the Dominican Republic capital last month to try to agree an agenda for full negotiations aimed at resolving the country's economic crisis, but have made little progress since.

The situation has the opposition scrambling to encourage voters to go to the polls. The opposition barely took Miranda in 2012 - and the government, in another series of tactics of widespread banning of opposition leaders, has blocked Miranda's popular governor and opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski.

The Russians are coming. Smilde and others say the constitutional assembly could take actions to thwart them, like declaring certain political parties illegal.

It is unclear how much more room the government has to cut imports.

The same statement noted that former lawmaker German Ferrer, Ortega's husband, is also a wanted man. The government has accused him of running a $6 million extortion ring with corrupt prosecutors under Ortega's supervision.